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In the 1400s, during the Golden Age of Exploration, Europeans began to sail south around the continent of Africa in an attempt to reach the wealth of silks and spices found in India and China.
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The europeans start selling and tradeing slaves
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The Europeans began to build trading posts in Africa in the 1500s
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the early 1800s, they were colonizing or taking over another country for the resources it could provide
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In the mid 1900s inspired by the events of World War II Africans began to seriously rebel against colonization.
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By 1900 Europe had taken over nearly all of Africa. The only country to remain uncolonized was Ethiopia
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In 1910 South Africa was granted independence from Great Britain. Although white people were a minority (smaller group) in South Africa, they controlled the government and businesses.
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In 1948, white South Africans known as Afrikaners made apartheid law. Apartheid is a policy of legal separation based on race.
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Sudan gained its independence from Great Britain in 1956. In the northern part of the country most people were Muslim Arabs. In the south most people were not Arab.
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Ghana would gain its independence in 1957.
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In 1960 Nigeria became independent after a fierce struggle against the British.
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Belgium Congo became independent in 1960. The country was unable to create a stable, fair
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Rwanda is a small country divided between two ethnic
goups, the minority Tutsi and majority Hutu. During colonization, the Belgium government preferred the Tutsi and used them to control the Hutu people. Independence came to Rwanda in 1962 after which violence broke out and the Hutu took control. The country continued to experience violence until -
It took years but Kenya became independent in 1963. Jomo Kenyatta would become the newly independent Kenya’s first leader.
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Nelson Mandela is the best known leader of the African National Congress. Instead of becoming a clan leader, Mandela instead went to school to become a lawyer. As an adult, he began to protest aparheid.
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In 1964,
Mandela was arrested and sentenced to life
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As a result, in 1965 Joseph Mobutu seized power. He renamed the country Zaire and ruled uninterrupted for 32 years.
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In 1976 the Igbo people tried to declare themselves independent. They named their new country Biafra.
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The actions of the Igbo launched a civil war in which over one million people died before the Igbo agreed to remain part of Nigeria
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The country continued to experience violence until
1994 when Hutu began to engage in genocide against the Tutsi people. Between 800,000 to 1 million Tutsi people were murdered. Eventually the Tutsi came back into power and restored peace. Millions of Hutus escaped into the Democratic Republic of Congo where the Hutu and Tutsi continued to fight. -
After independence, the people in the south rebelled against northern rule leading to two civil wars from 1956 to 1972 and from 1983 to 2005. Millions of people died. In 2011, Sudan recognized South Sudan’s independence.
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After independence, the people in the south rebelled against northern rule leading to two civil wars from 1956 to 1972 and from 1983 to 2005.
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In Darfur, an area west of Sudan, water is scarce which led to black farmers fighting with Arab herders for control of what water exists. The Sudanese government backed the herders and overlooked the terrible acts of violence the herders were using against the farmers. Nearly 300,000 people were forced from
their homes and between 100,000 and 400,000 people were murdered. -
One of the worst outcomes of colonialism was it left countries with weak governments that often became dictatorships. In 2010, people in Tunisia began to agitate for a more democratic government. This movement became known as the Arab Spring
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In Tunisia, protestors used social media to spread their message against a corrupt government, high prices and human rights abuses. In 2011, President Ben Ali resigned and a democratic government was elected. Similar victories occurred in Algeria and Morocco.
In Libya, dictator Muammar Qaddafi refused to step down. Instead, war broke out -
Mubarak was a dictator who had controlled Egypt for 30 years.
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Millions of people died. In 2011, Sudan recognized South Sudan’s independence.
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Mubarak was replaced by an Islamic fundamentalist government led by Mohammed Morsi in 2012
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in 2013, his government was overthrown by the military. Morsi was imprisoned and his political party was banned. The new government gave more power to the police and military in the new constitution.